Working at Bloomberg: “Your previous experiences do not limit what you can achieve today and in the future.”

At Bloomberg, we recognize that career paths aren’t linear. From former bankers to music graduates, we actively nurture talent from all walks of life – and encourage them to pursue new interests and passions.

Just ask Erin Zhu, who traded a career in banking for a role as a quantitative solutions developer at Bloomberg’s Hong Kong office. Here, she tells us more about what life is like at Bloomberg and the importance of embracing change.

What attracted you to work at Bloomberg? How did you know it would be a good fit? 

Before joining Bloomberg, I worked in the banking industry for about three years. I wanted a change and started looking for opportunities that were more dynamic and fast-moving. I was referred by a friend to apply for the Analytics and Sales track at Bloomberg. After reading the job description, I realized that the role would be a good fit for my knowledge and experience, and that it would allow me to stay close to the markets and keep up with new technologies. 

After three and a half years at Bloomberg, I discovered my passion for quantitative solutions and programming. I decided to pursue this path further, which led me to my current role as a quantitative solutions developer in the Desktop Build Group (DBG). 

What are you responsible for in your current role? 

I help customers develop solutions and prototypes using BQuant Enterprise. I am involved in both pre-sales prospecting and post-sales implementation, and work very closely with our salespeople. Together, we meet with clients and prospects to understand their workflows, needs, and pain points. We then demonstrate how our solutions can help them solve those problems and improve the efficiency of their investment workflows. 

During implementation, I work closely with clients to onboard new users. I also scope out use cases they want to address, and advise them as they develop their projects in order to shorten their time to market. 

What about your job excites or inspires you? 

Definitely the breadth and depth of my exposure to clients. I get to work with different types of customers — from both the buy-side and the sell-side, and from prop traders to quantitative researchers. I always learn something new from each client engagement, whether that’s a new workflow, a new topic related to the financial markets, or even new technical tools. 

What do you value most about Bloomberg’s culture? What sets Bloomberg apart from other places you’ve worked at? 

I value that our culture encourages learning, growth and creativity. There are plenty of resources to facilitate the learning process, and we can always set up calls with teammates to facilitate knowledge-sharing. What’s more, I’m supported to think outside of the box. If I have a new idea, I’m encouraged to do the research, build the prototypes and share my findings with the broader team. 

I also appreciate the highly efficient workplace — rather than going back and forth over email, we can simply set up an Instant Bloomberg chat or jump on a Zoom call to solve a problem. Plus, any requests we have are taken care of incredibly quickly. 

Finally, I really enjoy the local events Bloomberg holds for employees, such as the Hong Kong Festival and Spring Dinner. These events help me get to know my colleagues better outside of work. 

What’s one thing prospective candidates should know about what it’s like to work at Bloomberg? 

As the saying goes, the only constant is change — so adaptability is key. A lot of my colleagues have surprising backgrounds — for example, one of them majored in music at university and only picked up programming after joining the firm. Your previous experiences do not limit what you can achieve today and in the future, as long as you are willing to embrace change. 

This interview was originally published on The Muse. 

Interested in working at Bloomberg? Search open roles here.